FOR G )MMON SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES

Olf TIIE PLAN OF THE AUTHOR'S ' ELEMENTS OF READING AND ORATORY.'

By h. mandeville.

Prof essor of Moral Science and Belies Lettres in Hamiiton Collège, N. Y.

One neat Volume, lânio. Priée 75 cents.

This vvork is divided int > three parts. The tîrst relates to Grammar ; it contains a descripM n of the différent letters of the alphabet and their varions s mnds, of syllables, and also oi" w rds as parts of speech. The se.c nd part certains a classification and description ofuil the sentences or formulas of th.>ught ht e\ery degieo of expansion, to be found m the Èuglish language. Puvt the thirdcontain>a séries of exercises on paragraphs : the semences n t detached and classihed as in part second, buî appearing in thg c nneetkms und relations oi'ordinary discourses.

Ali who acknowledge any denrée of interest in having the young acquire the largeît aniount of information in ihe sfiortest possible lime, and at the Ujast pussiWe ex pense, vvill be led to examine the method îhis vvork pr posés to substituée for the prevailing oue. To further illustraie the plan of the Anthor, the f 11 iwîng Extract from the Préface is given :

*"1. It wiil impart a kind of knouledge which can be acquired in no other way, and which indeed no one 1ms hifhérto attempted to teach ; a kn <\vledge of sentential structure ; ;>f the anatorny, the h nés, nerves. and muscles of the language ; of the vaiious forms of expression which th -ugiii assumas in i btaining utterance in conversation or bonks.

" i2. It iays a t* tinJati n in the nature of things, in the very structure of language, for a cor rect, intelligent, and y aceiai delivery, in reading and speaking.

"3. It will prépaie the papil for the study of grammar. There are few teachers, I présume, who bave not fe!t the want <»f an intermeriiate stage of instruction between that study and reading ; pi' somethjmj to bric: ue the cha^m between the two, and render the transition from the one to the other less abrupt and difficnlt. To pass at once, with a mère capacity t;» put the words of a sentence together ami make sensé out of them, to the study of grammar, is équivalent to a leap from arithmetical enumeration to the ab-traetion jf algebra. l'erceiving this, hqt a few teachers pf emmenée hâve rec mmended the study of the Latin language, as a préparation for that of English grammar ; and in the présent state of things the recommendation U, in my opinion, a judicious une. I distinct'y remember, that I myself obtained mue knowledge of the principies of Engiish grammar from a few weeks' study of the Latin, than I obtained during a year of previous appiicatii n t» the English alone. But the study of Latin is not pursued in our coinmon scli o\\ ; and i! it were, an immense majonty of the y mth taught in them hâve neither the means, time. nor incliuari.m to puisue it. If possible, the refore, a substitufe shmld be provided. In the t'oMjwing w >rk I bave attempted this; and it cannot be read, I think, more than once, certainly not more than twice through, if read with any degree of care, without fixing in th* mind of the pupil s nie very imi)ortant grammatical ideas ; and this whiie yet ignorant, perhaps, of what the word 'grammatical ' means."

Preamble and Résolutions passed by the Oneida County Normal Institute, at the close of its Session at Home, Oct ber 1G, 1846.

Whereas. in our opinion, reading is the most important branch of éducation taught in our schools, demanding the best qualifications in teachers, as well as an imprimai method of instruction ; and whereas it lias been hitherto, to a lamentable extent, underrated and neglected, or if cultivated with due diligence, culrivated on principles which afford but little h >pe of impr>vement ; and whereas Professor Mandeville, of Hamilton Collège, has made it clear t> us that a better method than the prevailing une may and ouiïht tp be substituted--a method which, if adopted, mus', produce strïking improvement, and feeling g rate fui to him for the infamatijn he has imparted to us ; therefore

Resolved, As the settled conviction of the Board of Instruction, and of the members of this Institute, that the System taught by Professor Mandeville is the system of nature ; at once scientific and practical, soand in its theory and principJes, simple in its statements, and pertinent and ample in its illustrations ; and that this vvork, in which this system is most beautifully developed, should be carefuliy studied aud mastered by every practical leacher.

At a Meeting of the Spécial Committee appointed to examine and recommend books for the use of the Common Schools of Oneida dmnty, this tcorkwas examined and adopted as a Text Book,